Fine Arts Program at FTAA

The fine arts curriculum helps the students to develop a personal vision and technical abilities through experimentation with a variety of art forms. Students receive traditional style training in painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking. Under the mentorship of master artists, students take classes in cast drawing, life drawing and painting, anatomy, color, still life, figure modeling, perspective, etching, woodcut, and art history. The focus is on the arts during the Renaissance period. The faculty also strives to impress upon the students the idea of being responsible for themselves and the work they produce.

• Drawing - The students will develop the ability to represent three-dimensional spatial relationships accurately on a two-dimensional plane. These early drawings are a vital tool for training the eye to see correctly. Each step of the drawing process will be demonstrated and reinforced through repetition.
• Painting - The student will be exposed to oil painting in addition to other painting mediums and various techniques of paint application will be discussed and demonstrated. The students will learn from painting still life compositional theories, color theory, texture, and the illusion of three-dimensional form. At a more advanced level, the students will learn the fundamentals of painting using a live model.
• Sculpture - The program teaches students to understand historical and contemporary examples of sculpture and to integrate that knowledge into studio practice. Informed by proficiency in still life drawing, knowledge of anatomical structure, and an understanding of three-dimensional composition, students will demonstrate their ability to articulate forms, in the round and in relief, and to produce robust and convincing sculptures in such modes as the figure and the portrait. Students will become competent in the use of sculptural materials and casting methods.